John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 29

These [are] the words of the covenant
Not what go before, but follow after, in the next chapters, to the end of the book; in which are various promises of grace, and promises of good things, both with respect to Jews and Gentiles, intermixed with other things:

which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in
the land of Moab ;
or to declare unto them, and acquaint them with, they being now in the plains of Moab, ready to enter into the land of, Canaan:

besides the covenant which he made with them at Horeb :
or Sinai; which Jarchi interprets, besides the curses in Leviticus, delivered on Sinai; he seems to have respect to (Leviticus 26:14–46) . This covenant was different from that at Sinai, spoken of (Exodus 24:8) ; being made not only at a different time, at near forty years' distance, and at a different place, nor Sinai; but when Israel were come nearer Mount Sion, and were actually possessed of part of their inheritance, the land of promise, that part of the land of Moab which the two kings of the Amorites had seized and dwelt in, whom Israel had dispossessed; and with different persons, that generation being dead, excepting a very few, which were at Sinai:

but it was different as to the substance and matter of it, it not only including that, and being a renewal of it, as is generally thought, but containing such declarations of grace which had not been made before, not only respecting the repenting and returning Israelites, but the Gentiles also; for this covenant was made with the stranger, as well as with Israel, (Deuteronomy 29:11) ; and relates to the times of the Messiah, the call of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, and their return to your own land in the latter day.

Moses called unto all Israel
He had been speaking before to the heads of them, and delivered at different times what is before recorded; but now he summoned the whole body of the people together, a solemn covenant being to be made between God and them; or such things being to be made known unto them as were of universal concernment:

and said unto them ;
what is in this chapter; which is only a preparation or introduction to what he had to declare unto them in the following:

you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of
Egypt ;
the Targum of Jonathan is, "what the Word of the Lord did;" for all the wonderful things there done in Egypt were done by the essential Word of God, Christ, the Son of God; who appeared to Moses in the bush, and sent him to Egypt, and by him and Aaron wrought the miracles there; which many now present had seen, and were then old enough to take notice of, and could remember, though their fathers then in being were now dead:

unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants, and unto all his land ;
the plagues he inflicted on the person of Pharaoh, and on all his courtiers, and on all the people in Egypt, for they reached the whole land.

The great temptations which your eyes have seen
Or trials, the ten plagues which tried the Egyptians, whether they would let Israel go; and tried the Israelites, whether they would believe in the Lord, and trust in his almighty power to deliver them:

the signs and those great miracles :
as the said plagues were such as were beyond the power of nature to produce, and which only Omnipotence could really effect.

Yet the Lord has not given you an heart to perceive
They had some of them seen the above miracles with their bodily eyes, but had not discerned with the eyes of their understanding the power of God displayed in them, the goodness of God to them on whose behalf they were wrought, in order to obtain their deliverance, and the vengeance of God on the Egyptians for detaining them; so Jarchi interprets it of an heart to know the mercies of the Lord, and to cleave to him.

and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day;
to see and observe the gracious dealings of God with them, and to hearken to his voice and obey it: so the understanding heart, the seeing eye, and hearing ear, in things spiritual, are from the Lord, are special gifts of his grace, which he bestows on some, and not on others; see (Proverbs 20:12) . The Targum of Jonathan is, the Word of the Lord did not give you an heart.

And I have led you forty years in the wilderness
From the time of their coming out of Egypt to that day, which though not quite complete, is given as a round number.

Eupolemus ^F4 , an Heathen writer, confirms this date of the ministry of Moses among the Israelites; he says, Moses performed the office of a prophet forty years:

your clothes are not grown old upon you :
were not worn out; all those forty years they had been in the wilderness, they had never wanted clothes fitting for them, according to their age and stature, and which decayed not; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 8:4);

and your shoe is not grown old upon your foot ;
which were necessary to wear in travelling, and especially in a rugged wilderness; and yet, thought they had been always in use during so long a time, were not worn out, which was really miraculous; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 8:4).

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.